Loading apparatus



A. C. MYERS.

LOADiNG APPARATUS.

APFLICAHON FILED MAYZI. 1919.

1,365,120. Patented Jan. 11,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I. O

6 ATTORNEYS.

A. C. MYERS.

LOADING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY27, 1919.

Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

SHEETS-SHEET 2- ALBERT O. MYERS, 0F NILES, CALIFORNIA.

LOADING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan.,11, 1921.

Application filed May 27, 1919. Serial No. 300,076.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that. I, ALBERT C. MYERs, a citizen of the United States, residin at Niles, in the county of Alameda and tate of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Loading Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for loading unburnt bricks on a car for the purpose of transporting them to the drier. This operation is at present performed by hand and'is very laborious and expensive. By my improved apparatus I utilize the"force of gravity to accomplish the same result, having an outlet pipe 5 controlled by a Valve 10.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of my invention; Fig. 2 is a side view of a part thereof; Fig. 3 is a side view on an enlarged scale of another part thereof; showing particularly an automatic arrester; Fig. 4 is a broken side View, on an enlarged scale of another part thereof; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 6; Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a platform carried at the upper end of the piston 2 of a hydraulic elevator 3.

Said platform carries track rails 4, which in the lowermost position of the platform, are adapted to aline at their ends with track rails 6 and 7. Upon said rails 4 is movably supported a fiat car 8.

Said platform is guided vertically by means of U-shaped guides .9 secured to opposite edges thereof, and movable vertically in contact with central members 11 of T- bars 12 secured to sides of vertically extend-. ing posts 13. Connecting the tops of pairs of said posts 13 are parallel horizontal beams 14, and between said horizontal beams extend bars 16. 1

At a proper height above the ground are supported two series of circular walls 17 of troughs, 18, having hinged bottoms 19. The troughs of each series are parallel with each other, but the two series are at right angles to one another, those of oneseries being at right angle tothe track rails 6 and 7. These troughs form theterminal sections of tracks along which bricks slide by gravity, the

speed with which the bricks arrive at said ends of the walls 17 of the terminal troughs 18 are secured to and supported by'troughs 21 down which they slide before they come to the troughs 18, these troughs 21 being supported at their adjacent ends by the other beam 14.

The bricks are delivered by gravity in succession into said trough 21 from a pair of troughs by means of intermediate troughs and automatic switching devices such as are disclosed in my application-for patent filed of even date herewith, Serial No. 300,077. One of these troughs 21 is shown in broken side elevation in Fig. 3. It is just sufficiently wide to receive one of the bricks placed on its edge. It will be seen that the troughs 21 are inclined to the horizontal at an angle of about 25 degrees, this inclination giving the brick the desired speed to enable it to continue its journey to the far end of the troughs 18. As each brick slides down the trough 21, it impinges against one of four arms 22 extending radially at auniform angular distance from a hub 23, on atransverse shaft 24, the distance of the shaft from the brick being such that each brick in turn in its passage down the trough or chute 21 turns the hub through 3; of a revolution. Three of said arms are shorter than the fourth, so that they avoid impinging against the tail 26 of a pivoted latch 27 pressed upwardly by a spring 28, but the fourth arm 22 is sufliciently long to impinge upon said tail, thereby withdrawing said latch 27 from engagement with an upright 29, extending at right angles from the lower end of a pivoted arrester 31, which is normally pressed downward by a spring 32, coiled around a post 33, secured to said arrester and extending through a guide 34, and carthe arrester. Consequently, four bricks will pass down the chute or trough 21, but the fifth one will be arrested by the arrester, depressed by the spring 28, which is then able to operate on account of the latch 27 being withdrawn by the passage of the last previous brick. In this manner, four bricks in series are fed into the trough 18 and then feeding of said bricks into said trough is then temporarily arrested.

Said troughs 18 have bottoms 19 slightly wider than 1} the width of the trough, and hinged at one edge to the bottom of one wall of the trough. The bricks having been fed on to said hinged bottoms, the bottoms will be upheld, notwithstanding the weight of the bricks, by their hinge pins 38 having angular extensions 39, which enter angular holes in the lower ends of upwardly extending arms 41, the upper ends of which arms are all pivotally connected by pins 42 with a horizontal bar 43. A hooked latch 44, pivoted on a shaft 46 extending through the adjacent end of all the troughs .18, engages one of the pins 42, thus holding the bottoms of all the troughs in sustaining position.

When the operator sees that a layer of bricks have been fed into the troughs 18, he raises the latch 44, thereby allowing all the bottoms 19 to drop into a vertical position and permitting the bricks to drop on the fiat car.

The elevator is now lowered through a distance equal to the depth of the layer of bricks just previously deposited upon the car, and the car is then moved to a position on the right hand side of said platform, beneath the other series of troughs 18, the walls of which extend parallel with the tracks 4. These troughs are supported, in like manner as the troughs of the first series, at one end by a bar 48, extending across the beams 16 and at the other end by a series of troughs on chutes 21, which differ only from the first series of troughs or chutes 21 in that they are curved through a right angle. The operation of filling these troughs 18 takes place in the same manner as already described. The elevator is then lowered through the same distance as before, and the car is moved back to its former position. Another layer of bricks is laid on the layer last deposited, and so on in succession, until an even number of layers, as 4, 6 or 8 have been deposited. The elevator by this time has been lowered to such an extent that the tracks 4 are on a level with the tracks 6 and 7, and the car is then wheeled on to one of these latter tracks, which lead to the drier.

While I have in the claims defined the invention as comprising means for moving the conveyer into positions below the series of troughs and for lowering the conveyer, it is to be understood that such movement and lowering need not be absolute but only relative to the troughs, and that a movement of the troughs relative to the conveyer, which would produce the same result is to be considered an equivalent of the movement referred to in the claims.

I claim 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a car, two series of parallel troughs, the troughs of one series being at right angles to those of the other, the bottoms of the troughs of both series being movable from their position supporting bricks, means for feeding bricks into said troughs of each series, means for automatically arresting the feeding of bricks when a predetermined number of bricks have been so fed, means for moving said car alternately into two positions respectively below the two series of troughs, and means for lowering the car, between each of the latter movements, through a depth not less than that of a brick.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of an elevator platform, track rails thereon, track rails on the ground adapted to aline with the track rails on the elevator platform when the elevator is sufficiently lowered, a car on the track rails of the platform, two series of parallel troughs, the troughs of one series being at right angles to those of the other, the bottoms of the troughs of both series being movable from their brick-supporting position, means for feeding bricks into said troughs of each series, means for automatically arresting the feeding of bricks when a predetermined number of bricks have been so fed, means for moving said car alternately into two positions respectively below the two series of troughs, and means for lowering the car, between each of the latter movements, through a depth not less than that of a brick.

3. I11 an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a car, two series of parallel troughs, the troughs of one series being at right angles to those of the other, the bottoms of the troughs of both series being movable from their position supporting bricks, means for removing simultaneously the bottoms of all the troughs of either series, means for feeding bricks into said troughs of each series, means for automatically arresting the feeding of bricks when a predetermined number of bricks have been so fed, means for moving said car alternately into two positions respectively below the two series of troughs, and means for lowering the car, between each of the latter movements, through a depth not less than that of a brick.

4. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a brick conveyer,

two series of parallel troughs, the troughs of one series being at right angles to those of the other, the bottoms of the troughs of both series being movable from their position supporting bricks, means for feeding bricks into said troughs of each series, means for automatically arresting the feeding of bricks when a predetermined number of bricks have been so fed, means for moving said conveyor alternately into two positions re- 10 spectively below the two series of troughs, and means for lowering the conveyer, between each of the latter movements, through a depth not less than that of a brick.

ALBERT C. MYERS. 

